The outgoing Israel Defense Forces commander in the West Bank denounced Israel’s radical settlers, along with the failure of the settler leadership to take action.
At a transfer of command ceremony yesterday, outgoing IDF Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fox said that, while “the vast majority” of Israeli settlers in the West Bank are “moral, law-abiding citizens,” in recent months “nationalist crime reared its head under the auspices of war. It sowed chaos and fear in Palestinian residents who did not pose any threat. Unfortunately, the local [settler] leadership, and the religious leadership for the most part, did not see the threat as we did. It is deterred and does not find the strength to openly oppose it. Even if the perpetrators are a minority, those who remain silent in the face of their crimes … thereby introduce criticism toward” all settlers, reported the Times of Israel.
